HANCEVILLE - Hanceville High School is in the market for a new head football coach after the dismissal of Hanceville High alumni Craig Flanigan on Nov. 8. The Bulldogs posted a 4-16 record in the last two years under Flanigan. Flanigan was hired at Hanceville on July 19, 2016, following longtime coach Danny Miller's retirement. Prior to returning to his alma mater, Flanigan was an assistant coach at Walker, Austin and Hayden High Schools.

"Hanceville High School would like to thank Coach Craig Flanigan for his time spent as our head football coach," Hanceville High School Principal Jimmy Collins said in a statement to The Tribune on Nov. 8. "However, we have decided to go in a different direction with our football program. Coach Flanigan is an outstanding man; he and I have been friends since kindergarten, but we need to get our football program competitive again. Our school and community have a strong tradition of winning. We want to see us get back to that tradition. We feel like we have a lot of talent on the field, but unfortunately, going 1-9 and competing in only 2 of those 10 ballgames doesn’t reflect that. We plan to begin our search for a new head coach immediately and will make a decision by May."

Collins said this week that the school has received interest from multiple candidates and would love to be able to fill the position in time for spring practice, but said the school still likely won’t be able to fill the position until May.

The Bulldogs will have a lot of talent returning to the field in 2018 including running backs R.J. Evans and Romael Simmons and quarterback Alex Campbell. Whoever the next signal caller for Hanceville is, they’ll have a lot of experience and talent to work with in the backfield next season.